


Nemo

by Politics_notmything



Series: Parrlyn one shots [3]
Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Britain's Got Talent - Freeform, F/F, JUST KISS ALREADY, One Shot, anne is an adrenaline junkie, anne likes locking herself in a water-filled tank, cathy is bad at feelings, parrlyn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:34:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24396619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Politics_notmything/pseuds/Politics_notmything
Summary: Anne Boleyn is someone who finds enjoyment when locking herself in a water-filled tank! Catherine Parr has always liked Anne in a romantic way but always manages to keep her feelings in check.However, at their live performance, it takes Anne a dangerously long time to escape and this performance may be her last.
Relationships: Anne Boleyn/Catherine Parr
Series: Parrlyn one shots [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2044444
Comments: 12
Kudos: 76





	Nemo

When Catherine Parr couldn’t pay rent and her best friend offered her a job, how could she say no? What she didn’t know was that her best friend and lifelong crush would be playing the role of Houdini in their live performances. 

Anne Boleyn had always been an adrenaline junkie. It all started when she participated in a magic act at her cousin's 15th birthday. She was to be locked in a tank with her hands chained to the bottom and it was the magician’s job to figure out the code that Katherine had thought up. 

That’s where her passion for locking herself in a glass tank was finally discovered. She loved the feeling of adrenaline and the rush when she couldn’t open the lock! She loved it when she arose from the water like a goddess to see the audience on the edge of their seats. She also loved her assistant. 

Cathy and Anne worked well together, even if Anne was locked in a tank for most of the act, they still had unspeakable chemistry and having Cathy there gave Anne a reason to want to escape. Seeing Cathy’s worried face behind the glass and her sigh of relief at the end gave her a reason to keep picking at that lock until it eventually opened. 

Anne and Catherine gave the cab driver a nod and a wave as he dropped them off outside the London Palladium. Britain's Got Talent. This was where young performers came to get their big break and Anne couldn’t help but feel slightly nervous.

_4 weeks ago:_

> “You did what?!” Cathy looked at Anne in disbelief. 
> 
> “I figured we could show them what we could do!” She took Cathy’s hands in hers, “Who knows, we might even get that big break!” 
> 
> “You should’ve checked with me first.” The survivor reluctantly pulled away to take a sip of her coffee, “You know how I feel about these things.”
> 
> “It's 5 minutes on a stage!” Anne reasoned, “we do that shit every night!” 
> 
> “But this is different, Britain’s Got Talent is broadcasted around the entire country! If we mess up then-” 
> 
> “But we won’t.”
> 
> “But what if they don’t like our act! Imagine if we get buzzed! What then?” 
> 
> “Then we make our act better! We’ve got four weeks to make our act bigger and more dangerous!” Anne flung herself onto Cathy, “Make them fear for my life!” 

  
_Present Day:_

“Boleyn and Parr?” A tech woman, holding a clipboard called their names, “Please come through.” The tech woman who went by the name of ‘Jane’ led them into the wings, “Then the current act is going to walk off, we’ll get your things all set up and you’ll be on next. Break a leg.” 

Cathy’s heart could be heard beating through her chest and he clung to Anne’s arm in fear. 

“Cath, look at me.” Anne smiled down at her warmly, “It’s going to be fine.” 

Catherine pulled her best friend into a tight embrace, “I know, but this is crazy!” She knew the danger of their act had been tripled and even though rehearsals had been good, Cathy Parr still felt like she was going to throw up! “Look, whatever happens, just know that I lov-”

Applause ran through the wings and the previous act came jumping off the stage. She was in a red hoodie and looked like a fire eater. 

“Break a leg, guys!” She patted Anne on the back and headed into the group area. 

Anne nodded at Cathy and they proceeded to walk on. Anne had their equipment delivered to the theatre last night so she was relieved to their rectangular tank it onstage. Parr didn’t let go of Anne’s hand until they greeted the judges. 

“Hello, what’re your names?” Simon -an older-looking judge who wore a plain white shirt- greeted them. 

“I’m Anne and this is my best friend, Catherine!” 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both! what‘s your act?” 

“She locks herself in a water-filled tank.” Cathy deadpanned which got them some laughs. 

“Sorry for asking but are you guys together?” Another, more friendly-looking judge, David asked.

Anne hesitated, “nope” She smirked and popped the ‘p’. 

“Well then, the stage is yours!” David smiled. 

Anne positioned herself behind the tank and pulled off her oversized shirt and shorts so she was left in a black bikini. 

“This tank is filled with freezing cold water. Once Anne has entered she will chain her hands to the bottom of the tank.” Cathy made her way down to the judges’ panel. “The average human can hold their breath for 2 minutes and the current world record is 3 minutes.” 

Anne took a deep breath and lowered herself into the water, and began to handcuff herself to the bottom of the tank. 

“This act is extremely dangerous.” Cathy pulled a brown paper bag from her pocket, “Inside this bag are 8 locks. You judges will choose 4 at random to hold down the lid of the tank.” She held out her bag and went along the line, “Once you have chosen your locks I shall throw in 8 keys and 2 lockpicks, one to open the handcuffs and the other as a last resort. Anne will need to find the right key for the locks you chose. 

Catherine felt like she was going to cry as she headed back onto the stage, they had never done something this dangerous in front of an audience! 

“You ready?” Cathy asked. Anne’s head was just above the water, and once the lid shut there would be no room for her to breathe.

“Born ready, babe,” Anne winked and sucked in one last breath before diving under. Cathy couldn’t waste time, she threw the 8 keys and one of the lockpicks into the water and passed her the spare to open the handcuffs. She quickly closed the box lid and clipped the judges’ chosen locks to the corners. It was all or nothing. 

Anne needed time to compose herself. She had the lockpick in her hand and made quick work of unlocking the handcuffs. 

“1 minute gone.” Cathy could just about be heard through the glass. 

_Let's go, Annie._

Anne felt around the bottom of the tank for a key. She had to swim up a little way to open the locks but that added to the suspense. 

Wrong lock 

After Anne tried all 4 locks and couldn't throw the key back to the bottom of the tank so she decided to stuff it into her bikini bra and take it out later, she was short on time anyway! 

“2 minutes gone,” Cathy announced. So far Anne had only opened one lock and things were looking dark. 

_Come on Boleyn!_

She found another key to open the second lock and needed to work quickly to make up for a time. It wasn’t like she could breathe! 

After 2 more keys, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach: contractions

This is when the body senses higher CO2 levels than normal and tries to get rid of it by gently contracting diaphragm.

“3 minutes gone!” Anne could hear the nervousness in Cathy’s voice, “Annie, give me an OK?” 

Anne stuck out her pinky and forefinger to make the classic rock sign, showing that she was okay. 

The Boleyn girl continued and the look on Cathy’s face gradually got more and more terrified. Anne had never held her breath for this long. She had one mark to go and was approaching the 4-minutes mark. 

Suddenly after finding the final key all of Anne’s muscles in her upper body contract and cramp up at the same time — she failed to stay relaxed. It felt like someone just punched her in my stomach. Three and a half minutes have passed and it’s time for her to suffer.

_Anne had to carry on, for Cathy._

She tried the lock and it didn’t move, she tried again and again and again. Still nothing. 

Anne let out a panicked breath and couldn’t regain air she could feel her lungs contracting further! A look of pain crossed her facial features and she tensed up again. She kept trying the lock but it wouldn’t turn! 

_This can’t be it!_

After countless tries, Anne wanted to give up. She wanted to die in the water. Life wasn’t fair, she was kicked out of the house when she came out to her parents and lived on the street for months! She couldn’t even find the courage to ask Cathy out-

“4-minute mark!” 

_Cathy._

Anne had to keep going! Catherine Parr helped her when no one else did and when no one else would! She was her anchor and her best friend! 

Anne felt the key slip through her fingers and felt around for the lockpick. Boom. She clutched at the metal lock on the edge of the tank, wiggling the locking around and finally inserting it into the case. Anne had never moved faster in her life. 

Her whole body tensed up, she was in agonising pain as she wiggled the lockpick around the shaft. Panic set in and she wanted to scream, the oxygen she had left was depleting rapidly and she needed air. Her entire body contorted and she tried to shake away the pain. She felt like a balloon waiting to burst! 

_Just a little longer!_

She saw the paramedic run over to the tank in the corner of her eye. 

“We’re getting you out of there!” Cathy was shaking now, her eyes were itched with concern and she looked as if she was about to cry. 

Suddenly, Anne heard the lock click. She couldn’t be more thankful! She pushed her feet off against the glass and used her remaining strength to push open the glass lid and threw herself over the edge, gasping for breath. She was shaking from fear and relief, water stung her eyes and she didn’t know if it was tears or water was running down her cheeks. 

“Annie! Thank god!”

Anne looked out to see a speechless audience and one of the judges standing with their hands on their head in disbelief! 

Anne then looked to her left to see Cathy running over to her with tears in her eyes. Anne scrambled out of the box and did her best to run across the stage to embrace her best friend! Both girls were crying and shaking as Cathy clumsily wrapped a towel around Anne’s shoulders. 

“You scared me to death!” Cathy sobbed and held Anne’s face in her hands. Anne melted into the touch and rested her hands on Cathy’s waist. The audience was still in shock and every emotion Cathy had been feeling was washed away when she moved her hand to the back of Anne’s head and locked their lips together. Anne responded immediately. The kiss was desperate and rewarding, it was everything both girls had wanted to say but never did. It was loving and fearful and when they parted for air and rested their foreheads together, it felt good. 

“I should do this more often.” Anne joked, breathlessly,

“Don’t you dare!” Catherine was still terrified of losing the Boleyn girl and pulled her into a tight embrace. 

Anne turned to face the judges and Cathy still had her in a hug as one the tech guys passed her a mic.   
“Goodness, Anne.” One of the female judges began, “That was probably one of the scariest acts we’ve possibly ever had on the show!” 

“Thank you,” Anne brushed a wet strand of black hair from her eyes before placing it back around Cathy. 

“And you guys still aren’t dating?” The same man, David, joked.

“That’s the first time we’ve done that. It’s also been the closest I’ve ever come to dying in a tank before.”

“You thought you were going to die?” David’s voice was etched with concern. 

“I’ve never actually held my breath for more than 3 minutes before so,” 

“Then what kept you going? How the hell did you do that?” 

“This one,” Anne pointed down at Cathy with a soft smile, “She keeps me going.” 

“Well, it’s an extremely dangerous act. If we said yes and sent you into the semi-finals, what would you do to this?” He gestured at the tank behind them.

“We would probably make it harder,” Anne suggested, “might even put one of you in there!”

“Well then, I’m going to kick this off with a yes! Alisha?” David asked the judge to his left. 

“You had me on the edge of my seat the whole time! I’m going to say yes!” 

“I don’t know how you did it but I’m going to say yes!” Amanda praised, 

“Congratulations, you have 4 yeses.” Anne impulsively kissed Cathy’s forehead and Simon gave them a thumbs-up as they walked hand-in-hand off stage. 

* * *

_“I still can’t believe you did that!” Anne was watching their BGT performance with her girlfriend curled up in her arms._

_“I still can’t believe you almost died,” Cathy mumbled into Anne’s shirt._

_“It’s going to take more than that to get rid of Anne Boleyn.” She ran a hand through Cathy’s curly hair._

_“Please don’t scare me like that again!”_

_“Whatever you say, babe.”_

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a quick one-shot I thought up. It isn't very good but I figured I would write it down for ya'll! 
> 
> Please follow my Tumblr @politics-notmything for regular Parrlyn content, one-shots and fics!


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